7 proven SEO best practices for new blogs

When you create a blog for the first time, the thrill of it being there is immense, isn't it? You preview it, make changes in color/ design/ layout/ whatever else the theme allows, write something, publish it and again view it...That happens, whether it is a hobby blog or a professional blog. In the second case, when you start the blog with the aim to earn money, worries start when it does not get the projected number of visitors because traffic is the basic requirement for the blog's earnings, isn't it.SEO or search engine optimization is a set of techniques that make the blog come high on search pages when people search for something on the web. What we observe is that in a hurry to get lots of traffic, new bloggers adopt SEO practices that are either not effective or are not really necessary for new blogs or are harmful in the long run because they are unethical.

Let's go straight to what are the SEO best practices for new blogs.

1. Give the blog a memorable and relevant identity.

Since yours is a new blog, the world needs to know it. So, give it a small and memorable URL, an apt title and a crisp description.

While humans are influenced by a good identity, search engines get good inputs for indexing the blog when the URL, title and description point towards the topic of the blog.

Google likes 'relevant' identities. It also says, it thinks websites in which there is an 'About us' page are likely to be more real and genuine.

2. Promote the blog, especially when it is new.

A new blog must be shared so that people know that it exists. All good writing will fail if the blog is not discovered, and it will take years for it to get discovered on the strength of quality. So, promotion is very important to give the first push to the blog, and sharing it on different platforms is the easiest and cleanest way of promotion.

Promote the blog as well as individual posts. Share them on social media, write about a new post to other bloggers/ influencers/ friends, share it on bookmarking sites (e.g. StumbleUpon).

Do not look cheap while promoting it, don't over-promote.

When your blog is shared on different platforms, and other websites refer to it, search engines take note and use this feature to rank the blog for search.

3. Engage, participate on social media.

Bloggers need to be active on social media so that people discover the blog and know about its updates. But engaging is much more than self-promotion; it requires that you discuss topics, comment on others' writings, offer help if needed, join (and participate in) communities/ groups/ forums, and so on - and not ask others to favor you, like your post, put a link of your blog on theirs, etc. Engagement is not directly a signal for search engines, but when others share and talk about the blog in a natural, appreciative way, that is a great signal!

4. Gain authority by maintaining high quality.

A professional blog needs to gain reputation of being very informative, highly resourceful, having expert opinion, genuine, and with high-quality content.

Authority needs quality, which in turn comes from hard work, research, good quality of language and originality.

Do not copy-paste others' content. Do not fake yourself as expert in areas where you really are not expert.

A website's authority is the topmost parameter that Google is reported to be looking when deciding the ranking of websites for search.

5. Write regularly.

Blogs are liked by search engines more than static websites because blogs keep producing fresh content. People are likely to soon desert a blog if they don't find it updating itself.

Make a schedule of posting and stick to it.Google insiders have often been writing that Google likes fresh, updated, content.

6. Proactive link-building is a must for SEO.

When other websites link to your blog, Google and other search engines get a signal that your blog has content relevant to the subject for which it has been linked. If you get such a link from a highly reputed and popular site, you get that much better ranking for search.

Links come naturally when your blog and its posts have authority but you need to work to get links - and you should get links mostly from authoritative site.

For natural link-building, link your URL when making comments on others' blogs or websites; even request well-placed bloggers to consider a link yo your blog if your blog supplements the information given by them in their blog.

You must link your older posts on new posts when talking about the same topic. That not only leads to re-discovery of old content but also increases the relevance of your blog post to that topic, in the eyes of Google.

7. Keyword optimization is very important for professional blogs/ websites.

Well, some experts might tell you that keyword optimization comes on top of SEO. I have kept it as the last SEO technique because it is so obvious but is prone to over-doing. It is also the last as I will like to discuss some more about it from a newbie blogger's point of view.Search engines regularly look at websites all over the world wide web, and then they index web-pages topic wise. When someone makes a search, they do not search the whole web but look for the search expression in this index.

The best way for search engines to know the search expressions for which your blog should be indexed, is to look at your blog's identity (URL etc) and the content.

If your blog is on 'climate patters in north Europe', Google will likely index it for 'climate' and 'Europe' if it finds the blog full of content in these topics. Google and other modern search engines apply syntax and related connotations of the exact words in the query to decide what to serve to the searcher. Now, if somebody searches for 'climate in Germany' and your blog is a great resource on climate in north Europe, it is likely to come high on the search page.

Therefore, it is of paramount importance that you not only write great stuff on the topic of your blog, you must also optimize your posts (and URL, title and description of the blog) for the expressions (=keywords) people are likely to search for.

In the above example, your blog URL could be europeclimate.com (If it is not already taken!), its title may be 'All that you know about the climate and weather patterns in northern Europe', its description could answer what/ how/ where and other questions about north Europe's climate. In individual posts, you will definitely be writing about all aspects of Europe's climate, will be giving impactful headings to each post, placing good photos and illustrations on most posts, composing some static pages on the broader topic 'climate', and putting the keywords here and there in the post but in a natural way. Do not stuff posts or identities with keywords. Use variations. In the above example, if you talk about wind patterns, heat maps, seasons, individual country's climate etc - they all will count towards 'climate patterns' and you need not (and should not) overly use the specific expression 'climate patterns' in the copy.

If you find the post useful, would you like to share it on Twitter? >>>

SEARCH IndianTopBlogs

Three part series on how to give the blog independent name, how to select web host, what precautions to take...5 habits that ensure blogging successYou don't need to be a tech expert to be successful as hobby blogger or earn handsomely through blogging.

Pictures add value, but only if you apply your mind to basics, and optimize them for impact and SEO.33 things Google loves and hatesYou can succeed in blogging only if Google is on your side. So take care not to do things that it does not like.